Article holder for use in a car door

ABSTRACT

An article holder for use in a car door comprises an insertion portion to be inserted in the space between a door glass and an inside door, a lateral holding portion continuing from the insertion member fold at an outside bend line and having a reinforcing member for reinforcing the lateral holding portion, the lateral holding portion having further a support member which can be adjusted by selectively bending at any of the inside fold lines depending on the thickness of the inside door, a tab for fixedly positioning the support member, a longitudinal holding portion continuing from the lateral holding portion, a truncated disc member which is substantially in shape and extends between the lateral holding portion and the longitudinal holding portion, a lateral inside support member provided in the longitudinal holding portion and continuing from the truncated disc member. 
     The article holder further includes a rubber engagement member at the outside fold lines provided between the insertion portion and the lateral holding portion.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an article holder for use in a car doorwhich is formed by a piece of material and forms a pocket having anadjustable height when assembled.

2. Prior Art

There has been used a prior art article holder for use in a car door asshown in FIG. 8.

The prior art article holder for use in a car door (hereafter referredto simply as article holder) is formed by a piece of sheet materialhaving four lines to be bent in the lateral direction thereof. The priorart article holder comprises an insertion member 1, which is insertedbetween a window and the gap provided between the window and the insidedoor, for supporting the article holder, a hanging lateral member 19,bent at a first line, hung over the upper portion of the inside doorshown in the figure and having slits 23 at locations close to both sidesthereof, a longitudinal supporting member 20 bent at a second line andhaving separable pieces 22 at both sides thereof which separate at cutlines lines provided at both sides of the longitudinal supporting member20, extend upward at desired angle and are inserted in slits 23 at thetip ends thereof, a lateral holding member 5 bent at a third line forholding an article thereon and having slits 23 at locations close toboth sides thereof, a longitudinal auxiliary member 21 bent at a fourthline and having separable pieces 22 at both sides thereof which separateat cut lines provided at both sides of the lontitudinal auxiliary member21, and extend upward at a desired angle and are inserted in slits 23 atthe tip ends thereof.

The prior art article holder, constituted by a piece of sheet material,has problems in that it can only hold small sized and light articlessuch as small sized road maps or driving gloves. There is anotherproblem in that it can not securely hold the article and will drop thearticle therefrom due to vibration during driving. There is stillanother problem in that the lateral and lengthwise size of the articleholder can not be reduced for keeping the holding forth so that theusage thereof is limited in view of the positions for the armrest or aregulating handle. Especially for the portable article holder, it is acurrent tendency to reduce the size thereof since the height of theautomobile is reduced which thereby reduces the distance between aceiling and the seats.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefor an object of the present invention to provide an articleholder for use in a car door (hereafter referred to as simply articleholder) that solves the problems of the prior art.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an articleholder to be easily assembled with a small number of fold lines.

It is further object of the present invention to provide an articleholder which is adjustable in the height thereof irrespective of thethickness of the door.

It is still further object of the present invention to provide anaritcle holder enabling the prevention of an article from being droppedfrom the article holder.

The objects of the present invention will be achieved by providing anarticle holder made of a piece of sheet material which comprises aninsertion portion to be inserted in the space between a door glass andan inside door and having an engagement member provided at substantiallythe middle portion thereof for fixing the article holder in the spacebetween a window and the inside door to prevent the article holder fromslipping, a lateral holding portion continuing from the insertionportion and bent at an outside fold line and having a reinforcing memberfor reinforcing the lateral holding portion, the lateral holding portionfurther having a support member which can be adjusted by selectivelybending at any of its inside fold lines depending on the thickness ofthe inside door, a tab for fixedly positioning the support member, alongitudinal holding portion, a truncated disc member having apredetermined diameter and which is substantially circular in shape andextends between the lateral holding portion and the longitudinal holdingportion, an inside lateral article support member provided at thelongitudinal holding portion and continuing from the truncated discmember.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will become more apparent from the following description takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an article holder for use in a car dooraccording to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective side view of the article holder in FIG. 1 whenassembled;

FIG. 3 is a perspective side view of the article holder in FIG. 2 when acup is kept on the article holder;

FIG. 4 is a partly cutaway cross sectional view of the article holder inFIG. 2 when mounted on a car door;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of an article holder for use in a car dooraccording to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a partly cutaway cross sectional view of the article holder inFIG. 5 when mounted on a car door;

FIG. 7 is a partly cutaway cross sectional view of an article holder foruse in a car door in a third embodiment of the present invention mountedon a car door; and

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a prior art article holder.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

First, second and third embodiments of the present invention will bedescribed in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

An article holder according to a first embodiment of the presentinvention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 through 4.

An article holder for use in a car door (hereafter referred to simply asarticle holder) is formed by a piece of sheet material such as a thickpaper and preferably has a thickness of 0.3 mm to 1.0 mm. The thicknesscan be varied depending on the material of the holder or the articles tobe held. The article holder comprises an insertion portion 1 to beinserted in the space between a window 15 and an inside door 16 and hasan engagement member 6 provided at substantially the middle thereof forfixing the article holder in the space between the window 15 and theinside door 16 to prevent the article holder from sliding, a lateralholding portion 2 extends from the insertion portion 1 and is fold at anoutside bend line 10 and has a reinforcing member 9 provided at bothsides thereof for reinforcement of the lateral holding portion 2. Thelateral holding portion 2 further has a support member 7 which can beadjusted by selectively bending any of the inside fold lines 10depending on the thickness of the inside door 16, and a tab 8 forfixedly the support member 7, a longitudinal holding portion 3continuing from the lateral holding portion 2, a truncated member 4which is substantially in circular shape with a diameter of 6 to 8 cmand extends between the lateral holding portion 2 and the longitudinalholding portion 3, and a lateral inside article support member 5provided in the longitudinal holding portion 3 and continuing from thetruncated disc member 4.

The article holder is assembled in the manner that firstly thecomponents set forth above are bent along each fold line, secondly thetruncated disc member 4 and the lateral article support member 5 areseparated along the inside cut lines extending to the periphery of thetruncated disc member 4 and the lateral support member 5, then thereinforcing member 9 is bent inside and adhered to the lateral holdingportion 2.

The article holder thus assembled receives a cup 13 on the lateralarticle support member 5, and the circular shaped truncated disc member4 and the longitudinal holding portion 3 prevent the cut 13 from beingmoved and dropped from the article holder as shown in FIG. 3.

When the article holder is mounted on the car door, the insertion member1, together with the engagement member 6, are inserted between thewindow 15 and the space provided between the gap and the inner door. Theengagement member 6 presses the article holder against the window 15 toprevent the article holder from slipping out the inner door 16. Thelateral holding portion 2 is bent along one of the outer fold lines 10and the fixed piece 7 is bent along one of the fold lines 12respectively, depending on the the thickness of inner door, and fixedlypositioned the tab 8 so that an article 14 such as canned drinks can beheld horizontally especially when the inner door 16 is thin or inclinedto some degree relative to the earth. Furthermore, the horizontalholding of the article is stabilized by selectively bending the lateralinside article support member 5 along one of the outer fold lines 11depending on the height of the article 14. Therefore, the cup in whichthe drinks are contained and the opened can can be held. An articlehaving a low height can also be held stably.

An article holder according to a second embodiment of the presentinvention will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6.

The article holder in the second embodiment is the same as that in thefirst embodiment except that adhesive tape having a releasable sheet isprovided at the portion hatched in FIG. 5.

When the article holder is mounted on the car door, the insertionportion 1 is inserted in the space between the window 15 and the innerdoor 16. When the inner door 16 is thick, the hatched portion 18corresponding to outer fold lines 10 in the first embodiment is used asan extension of the lateral holding portion 2 to be hung over the upperportion shown in the figure of the inner door 16.

If the thickness of the inner door 16 is greater than the width of thelateral holding portion 2 and the hatched portion 18 as its extension,the releasable sheet is peeled off to adhesively fix the article holderto the inner door 16 at the portion of the hatched portion 18 so thatthe holding force of the article holder is reinforced.

Furthermore, if the adhesive tape is provided at the backside of thereinforcing member 9, the reinforcing member 9 is easily adhered to thelateral holding portion 2 by simply peeling off the releasable sheet.

An article holder according to a third embodiment of the presentinvention will be described with reference to FIG. 7.

Some cars employ an inside door made of a rubber having grooves providedon the upper portion of the inside door shown in the figure. An articleholder to be mounted on such the inside door requires a stopper forrubber. The third embodiment has been made to meet this requirement.

An article holder of the third embodiment is the same as those of thefirst and second embodiments except that a rubber engagement member 24is provided at the portion corresponding to the outside fold lines 10 inthe first embodiment. When the rubber engagement member 24 is providedin the article holder of the second embodiment, the rubber engagementmember 24 is placed at the portion hatched at 18 and the adhesive tapeis provided at the right side of the rubber engagement member 24 in thefigures. The number of rubber engagement members 24 is dependent on thenumber of grooves provided on the inside door. When the article holderwith such an arrangement is assembled and mounted on the car door, therubber engagement member 24 is positioned at the grooves of the innerdoor. In the article holder both the rubber engagement member 24 and theadhesive tape, the rubber engagement member 24 is positioned at thegroove and the adhesive tape is adhered on the upper portion of theinside door to obtain more reinforcing force.

As evident from the article holder according to the first, second, andthird embodiments of the present invention, the article holder made of apiece of sheet material is constructed with a small number of fold linesso that it can be easily assembled with low cost. The article, holdercan retain small articles such as notions, as well as canned drinks andcups for drinks. Inasmuch as the article holder is provided with anengagement member at the insertion portion to be inserted between thewindow and the gap between the window and the inside door so that thearticle holder is prevented from being dropped from the car door.Furthermore, inasmuch as the adhesive tape is provided at the outsidefold lines between the insertion portion and the lateral holding portionand the backside of the reinforcing member, the article can be heldsafely on the article holder. The lateral holding portion, where theload of the article is applied thereto, is double structured byproviding the reinforcing member so that its strength is remarkablyimproved.

The height of the article holder can be adjusted by the outside foldportion provided between the insertion member and the lateral holdingportion and by the outside fold portion of the longitudinal holdingportion so that the article can be horizontally retained on the articleholder.

The article holder can embrace the article so that the article isprevented from being dropped from the article holder.

Although the invention has been described in its preferred form with acertain degree of particularity, it is to be understood that manyvariations and changes are possible in the invention without departingfrom the scope thereof.

What is claimed is:
 1. A collapsible article holder for use in a cardoor comprising:a strip of sheet material having an insertion portion, alateral holding portion and a longitudinal holding portion; saidinsertion portion being adapted for insertion between a window and aninside surface of said car door and having an engagement member providedat a central portion thereof, said engagement member being defined by aplurality of cut-lines and a fold-line and adapted for engagement withsaid inside surface of said car door so as to force said insertionportion into contact with said window, said insertion portion beingjoined to said lateral holding portion through a plurality offold-lines, said plurality of fold-lines serving as means for adjustingthe location of said engagement member inside said car door; saidlateral holding portion being adapted to extend in a lateral directionaway from said car door and comprises a support member and a truncateddisc member, said support member having at least one fold-line providedtherein and a tab portion adapted for insertion into a slit provided insaid lateral holding portion to fixedly secure said support member in adesired position, said support member additionally being adapted forengagement with an upper surface of said car door at a fold-lineprovided therein and support said lateral holding portion thereon, saidtruncated disc member being defined by fold-lines provided at a forwardand rearward portion thereof and a plurality of cut-lines joining saidfold-lines and adapted to form an opening in said lateral holdingportion said truncated disc member being joined to said lateral holdingportion at said forward portion fold-line when said truncated member isdisposed in a vertical position, said lateral holding portion beingjoined to said longitudinal holding portion by a pair of fold-lines;said longitudinal holding portion having a lateral article supportmember defined therein, said lateral article support member beingdefined by said truncated disc rearward portion fold-line, at least onelateral article support member rearward portion fold-line and a pair ofcut-lines and forming a lateral support surface when said truncated discmember is disposed in said vertical position.
 2. An article holder foruse in a car door according to claim 1, wherein a rubber engagementmember is provided at the outside fold lines between the insertionportion and the lateral holding portion.
 3. The collapsible articleholder of claim 1, wherein said lateral holding portion has areinforcing member provided on both sides thereof.
 4. An article holderfor use in a car door according to claim 3, wherein an adhesive tapehaving a releasable sheet is provided at outside fold lines between theinsertion portion and the lateral holding portion, and at the backsideof the reinforcing member.